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Wednesday, 13th April 2011
Posted by Geoff on 14 Apr 2011 | Tagged as: Other
Geoff writes: the main event today was the Long Mynd Soaring Club AGM. I’ve been chairman of the LMSC for the last two years, and Judith has been Communications Officer for the last three; we both stood down last night. Whilst it’s been very interesting, often enjoyable, sometimes very difficult (we have had to deal with some quite serious issues in this time, with one or two incredibly selfish and arrogant people) we felt it was the right time to resign. This is partly because we want to do other things with our time now, partly because there are serious disadvantages, both personally and for the club, in being involved and very active whilst we are both sitting on the same committee. We honestly feel (possibly being somewhat arrogant ourselves!) that the club is in a much stronger position now than it was when we joined, and, very importantly, that we are leaving behind a strong committee which will maintain the work of the club. It’s been a great pleasure to work with such a group of people.
Many ordinary club members – not just of the LMSC, but probably of most organisations – wildly underestimate the amount of work required in the background, done quietly by small groups of dedicated people. Without a committee to do the bulk of the work, the club would not survive. Without the club, there would be far fewer, or possibly even no, flying sites locally. All flyers in the UK owe a huge debt to the numerous flying clubs, large and small, which protect our flying. Pilots who don’t join their local club are just selfish freeloaders and parasites (there’s a nice play on words there…).
Monday, 11th April 2011
Posted by Geoff on 11 Apr 2011 | Tagged as: Other
Geoff writes: rainy in the morning, sunny in the afternoon, but way too windy. So a day for catching up on jobs. Tuesday looks like it could be a great day, with very strong thermals – but again, too windy. We’ll see what happens.
Yet again, the north was the place to be yesterday, with about 20 flights posted in the League, mostly from the Lakes, Pennines and Scotland. Relatively short though, 45km max, average around 25km. But still, a lot more than was done around here. People do say – I don’t know how true this is, but it certainly seems to be this year – that the Mynd area is much better later on in the season. Let’s hope so. Given that the number of XCs in the league from Mynd sites this year is very close to zero (well, one actually, of 13.5km), that seems accurate. Phil Colbert is leading the league (at time of writing this posting), with his top six flights totalling 406.9 km, all from the Peak District northwards. In the club league, the first southern club is Avon, in eighth place, with 229.4km – compared with the top club, Pennines, with 1228.2km (which includes Phil’s total). An incredible score, this early in the year. When we’re in Spain, we always get asked if it’s possible to go XC in the UK, do we get thermals here? If only they could see these figures!
Saturday, 12th March 2011
Posted by Geoff on 12 Mar 2011 | Tagged as: Other
Geoff writes: rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain ….. you get the idea. Wayne and Mick left this afternoon. We’ve had a great time, ending last night with dinner with Debi at our local bar, having the traditional Catalan meal of calçots – followed by a meat course, desert, bread and lots of wine, all for 20 euros each. Great value!
Today, we had hoped to get a last day flying before going to the airport, but no chance. The forecast proved all too accurate, and it has been raining continuously since the middle of the night. The only good thing is that this means a lot of new snow in the mountains. We decided to have a look around Girona, but in the end that meant wandering round an amazing toyshop, then coffee, then the airport.
The forecast is a little better for tomorrow, then another three days of bad weather. Lucky they aren’t arriving today, rather than leaving – though the people on the incoming flight will get a shock, when they deplane in not so sunny Spain.
Tuesday, 28th December 2010
Posted by Judith on 29 Dec 2010 | Tagged as: Other
Having been pleased that I was the only adult not to have suffered from the cold over Christmas, I finally succumbed to it today. I was too bunged up and dizzy to think about flying, although it looked like a good day. Oriol was heading off to Sant Pere de Rodes and Johnny and Marc were off to Santa Brigida. Not sure what it was like at the latter, but Oriol reported that they had two hours of soaring at Sant Pere de Rodes, playing, doing wingovers and managing to fly along the whole length of the ridge several times. Unfortunately, Geoff had sacrificed himself to care for me in my sick bed, so missed all the fun.
And it appears that the Meteocat forecasters are full of the Christmas spirit… they made a little sunny man out of weather symbols on the forecast today. How cute!
Thursday, 23rd December 2010
Posted by Judith on 25 Dec 2010 | Tagged as: Other
Another unflyable day, with a lot of snow forecast in the mountains and rain in the valley. Predictably, it was a sunny morning with plenty of blue sky. We were regretting not going skiing until the sky clouded over and it started pouring.
It was a good job we didn’t go. Picking up last minute presents and ingredients for Christmas cooking would have been even more of a rush if we had got stuck in the ski resort. As it was, we got to Rupit for a nice meal with the family in good time. Holidays now for a few days…
Sunday, 5th September 2010 (UK)
Posted by Geoff on 06 Sep 2010 | Tagged as: Other
Geoff writes: the day after the party, and no hangover. As forecast, it was far too windy to fly. I helped a bit with the clearing up, then went to the cafe in Edale for breakfast. Nice to chat with Viv and Phil Fouracre. Then went for a wander around the Peak District. I’d forgotten how incredibly crowded it can get. But still a stunning place.
Then picked up Judith from the airport in the evening. Nice to have her back in one piece!
Thursday, 26th August 2010 (UK)
Posted by Geoff on 26 Aug 2010 | Tagged as: Other
Geoff writes: oh, it’s still raining. And has been all day.
But indications are that it might get a lot better from tomorrow. On the other hand, it is a Bank Holiday weekend, so the weather forecasters are probably doing their bit for the UK economy, and lying.